Multi-phase bus signal priority strategy at isolated intersections

To satisfy the multiple priority requests from buses that arrive at different phases within a small time window, a multi-phase bus signal priority （MPBSP） strategy is developed. The proximity principle is brought forward to settle the conflicts among multiple priority requests and arrange the optimal priority sequence. To avoid over saturation of the intersection, a conditional MPBSP algorithm that adopts early green and green extension strategies is developed to give priority to the bus with the highest priority level when green time that each phase runs makes its saturation degree not larger than 0. 95. Finally, the algorithm is tested in the VISSIM environment and compared with the normal signal timing algorithm. Sensitive analysis of the number of priority phases, bus demand, and volume to capacity ratios are conducted to quantify their impacts on the benefits of the MPBSP. Results show that the MPBSP strategy can effectively reduce bus delays, and with the increase in the number of priority phases, the reduction range of bus delays also increases.